Attack on Egypt church kills at least 11; IS claims responsibility

A gunman opened fire on a church south of Cairo on Friday, killing at least 11 people before he was shot dead by security forces.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The gunman wounded five security guards and tried to storm the building, police officials said.

Medical and security sources said three police officers were killed.

A picture of the alleged gunman's corpse published on the official Al-Ahram newspaper's website showed a bearded man wearing a bulky ammunition vest sprawled on a street.

Police have stepped up security measures around churches ahead of Coptic Christmas celebrations on 7 January, deploying officers outside Christian places of worship and setting up metal detectors at some of the bigger churches.

Earlier reports by security sources and state media said at least two men were involved in Friday's attack, and that one was shot dead while the other fled the scene. 

The Coptic Church said the gunman first shot at a Christian-owned shop 4 km away, killing two people, before proceeding to the Mar Mina church in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan. The Interior Ministry said he opened fire at the entrance to the site and tried to throw an explosive device.

Remon, a student attending Helwan University, said he saw the two militants attacking a shop that sells electronic devices.

"The two militants killed the two brothers in cold blood and fled the scene," he said.

Boshra, a 55-year-old employee in the ministry of agriculture, told MEE over the phone: "No one is safe here. They said in Sinai the terrorists are attacking Sinai because it is lacking security and we said OK, but in Helwan where there is a policeman following everything you do, it is bizarre.

"I bet you 60 percent of the people in Helwan will be afraid to go to the church in the feast."

The Islamic State group's affiliate in Egypt has killed dozens of Christians in church bombings and shootings over the past year and has threatened further attacks.

Egypt's Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of the country's 93 million people, and are the largest religious minority in the region.

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Friday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and condemned the attack, the White House said in a statement.

Speaking to MEE on the eve of Christmas, former archbishop emeritus of Algiers Henri Teissier implored Middle Eastern Christians not to leave their historic homeland in the face of militant attacks.

"We hope that the current crises will not drive our Christian brethren out of their homes, out of the countries that are their native lands," he said.

"Christians were in the Middle East seven centuries before the Muslims. A Lebanese Christian is also a Lebanese citizen. The Copts are the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians."